Originally, I was going to write an article about how general managers were ruining Bay Area sports. Yet, as I was brainstorming ideas for this article, the 49ers game was on and they were kicking butt. Therefore, in light of the recent success of the 49ers (book it, the 49ers are going to win the Superbowl), it came to me that all of the professional sports teams in the Bay Area have a bright future, except for one: the Raiders.

The Warriors have a rising star in Monta Ellis. The Giants have their franchise player in Tim Lincecum. The A’s consistently have young talent that develops to all-stars (only to be traded away later in order to save money). As for the 49ers, they have a beast in Patrick Willis and the next Joe Montana in J.T. O’Sullivan. All of the teams in the Bay Area should be dominant if given a few more years, all except the Oakland Raiders.

For those who don’t know the current situation in Oakland, here’s a little summary. The Raiders owner and general manager, Al Davis, is known for his irrational acts of firing coaches in his total quest to control every little piece of the team. The irony of his acts is that he warrants them with claims of the coach not being good enough to lead his team to a championship.

Yet, former coaches that were fired like Mike Shanahan and Jon Gruden go on to win Superbowls right after. To make matters worse, they consistently beat the Raiders out of revenge, resulting in the Raiders consistently having bad records.

The same deal is currently going on. The Raiders are having another poor season and their current head coach, Lane Kiffin, is rumored to be under fire for the team’s failure. Although I despise Kiffin’s past with the USC Trojans (my least favorite college team), he isn’t to be blamed. Unfortunately for Kiffin, Davis is up to his usual irrational act of firing head coaches.

An example of Davis wanting Kiffin gone is the reports on Jan. 28 by ESPN’s Chris Mortensen that Davis drafted a letter of resignation for Kiffin to sign. Of course, Kiffin rejected the disrespectful act which angered Davis even more.

Hence, Davis decided to bring the world down on Kiffin by having his executives pass out, as San Jose Mercury columnist Tim Kawakami reported, a copy of an article critical of Kiffin. To make matters worse, Kiffin was restricted from seeing the defensive game plans despite being the head coach. Following the Raider’s loss to a surprisingly, playoff- ready team in the Buffalo Bills, Kiffin is under fire once more.

The conflict between Kiffin and Davis is one example of why the Raiders do not have a bright future ahead of them. By being a dictator, Davis is not going to be able to create a successful team. One would assume that after past experiences with firing head coaches out of personal reasons who later on have great success, Davis would realize that he is making a mistake.

But obviously, Davis did not as Kiffin, who seems to the next Gruden in terms of coaching, is going through the same irrationality that Davis had with his coaches. Because of Davis, the Raiders will not have a bright future.

I grew up following sports with a passion. Although I might not look like the type of “sports guy,” don’t be fooled for I can tell you a majority of what is going on in the sports world.

With this passion for sports that I have, I have always dreamed of becoming a sports writer (hey, I’m writing for the Skyline View, right?) and one of my idols is Kawakami, who is well-respected across the sports journalism world. Yet, what happened to him following Kiffin’s press-conference on Sept. 22 was a clearly disrespectful act to a pioneer in the journalism world.

After the press-conference, Raiders senior executive John Herrera confronted Kawakami on his article. In their now-famous YouTube clip, Herrara, instead of speaking professionally, threatened and harassed Kawakami with accusations of slander, despite Kawakami having a positive track-record of reporting the truth. Kawakami, being the well-respected journalist he is, had a calm-face and tried to have a professional conversation with Herrara.

When it seemed as if Kawakami was about to get his butt kicked by a guy bigger than him, every journalist in the press room went to his rescue and began defending Kawakami. Eventually, Herrara left and the only Raiders official to apologize to Kawakami was Kiffin himself, although Kiffin had nothing to do with the situation.

Despite having a personal vendetta against people with a USC background, I am on Kiffin’s side. He has the potential to lead the Raiders to success. Not only that, but the way he is handling the whole fiasco that Davis is unleashing on him is a true description of his professional character.

Rather than firing Kiffin, the Raiders need to get rid of their owner if they want a bright future. But until that day comes, get used to seeing the Raiders finish the season on the bottom of the NFL.